Virginia Memory, Library of Virginia
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THIS DAY IN VIRGINIA HISTORY

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June 23, 1845

Broadside 1845 .D26 FF, Special Collections, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

A Notice of An Escaped Convict Was Published

This broadside alerted residents of Hampshire County, Virginia (now in West Virginia) of the jailbreak of Henry Ayres, an enslaved African American convicted of arson. The woodcut image of an African American man with a bundle was commonly used on posters of this kind, as was the terminology used in describing the convict.